Review: The Next Three Days

"The Next Three Days" is not a great film. It's a good film with great performances by Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Olivia Wilde, Brian Dennehy and pretty much everyone involved in the film - even Liam Neeson in a very short cameo. There's nothing really wrong with the film. Well, the pacing for the first half of the film could have been a little faster-moving but then the slow-burn buildup was actually needed to show Russell Crowe's descent into a Quixotic, reality-denying husband for whom you are rooting for one moment and genuinely concerned about the next - Will he become a psychopath? Will he be reunited with his wife (Elizabeth Banks) who is in prison for murder? Will he successfully pull off the most unbelievable prison break since Sean Connery escaped from The Rock?

So there's really nothing wrong with the film per se. It's just a little short of being great. But is it good enough for an afternoon watch? Of course it is. I saw it during my lunch break. The characterisation was great - although I thought that Russell Crowe's parents could've been fleshed out a little bit more. Brian Dennehy is capable of so much more - but his quiet strength and gritty grace here more than made up for an unimpressive role. I grew up with Dennehy as villains that you'd love to punch in the face. It's great to see him in a good guy role - a somewhat Pa Kent-like role, in fact - as Russell Crowe's father. But then there's really so much going on all the time and you soon find yourself getting so caught up with the details of Crowe's insane plan to spring his wife from prison that there's really not one boring moment in the film.

In other words, it's very difficult to say what made the film less than what it should be. You keep feeling that it could be better but then one moment while you're complaining that the pace is slow, the next moment the tension builds up so much that you find yourself gripping on to the chair with sweaty palms - when was the last time a fugitive movie felt so satisfying? Possibly when Tommy Lee Jones was pursuing the escaped Harrison Ford in "The Fugitive".

Of course, the real redeeming factor for the film is the excellent performances by Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks. They gave it their all. But in the end it felt like a waste of talent on a film that really should have been better.

Reviews: "Robin Hood", "Women In Trouble" and "Crossing Hennessy"

Saw three movies back-to-back and loved them all.

First up is a film I did not expect to enjoy. The only reason I bought a ticket was because it was the only show I could catch during my lunch-break and make it back to work on time to teach my next class. Furthermore, I get the special "students" discount so that's six bucks for a 2.5-hour movie!

I'm talking about Ridley Scott's "Robin Hood" starring Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett. What I was expecting was a play-by-numbers Robin Hood tale - you know, the Sheriff pissing the townsfolks, Robin's fight with Little John and recruiting him, Alan A'Dale's wedding, etc. What I got was a historical epic that felt like "Braveheart" and "Gladiator" rolled together! As a bonus, we also got a history of the Magna Carta and for the first time ever, I really got the spirit behind that great declaration of liberty and the rule of law. Russell Crowe was very subdued and restrained throughout. That made his Robin Hood a lot less memorable than other versions but the character took on a certain gravitas that was lacking in past portrayals. Cate Blanchett is no flimsy damsel waiting for Robin to rescue her. She's more like Eowyn in LOTR - a girl who can wield a sword and charge into battle with the hero. It was largely very satisfying as a historical epic - although rather different from the flamboyant feel that Robin Hood films should project. Blame that on a childhood enraptured by Errol Flynn's dashing hero in tights...

Next up is "Women In Trouble". I caught this on a Hi-Def DVD and loved every comedic moment of it. It doesn't really have a plot. The whole thing played out like a wiser and more cynical version of "Sex In The City". Firstly, I like a movie where the title tells you everything you need to know about the contents. This movie is really about half a dozen or so women who are in some kind of trouble - whether it is a pornstar who discovered that she is pregnant, another pornstar who is a math-prodigy but to stupid to dodge reversing vehicles, a lesbian masseuse, a pair of sisters who share parenting of a weird kid, a psychiatrist who discovers that her husband is the one giving "treatment" to her female patients, etc. etc. In short, it is an ensemble piece that could have gone so wrong (think: "He's Just Not That Into You" and "Valentine's Day" for two recent examples of bad ensemble films) but here it worked so very well. I laughed non-stop for 90 minutes. It is just that good.

Finally, the best film I saw this year is "Crossing Hennessy". Ivy Ho directs this very subdued piece of urban romantic drama that drags you in like a Cuban cigar and never lets you go until the last puff. The film is not so much a coherent piece as it is a collection of vignettes about the life of very mundane and ordinary folks in Hong Kong - specifically folks along Hennessy Street. Like the previous "72 Tenants" (also starring Jacky Cheung), the story centres on two families who run businesses across the street from each other. Unlike that other slapstick film starring everyone from TVB, this one is very grounded and the comedic timing had more to do with clever dialogue, great acting and timely wit than "mo lei tau" slapstick. For that alone, this film is refreshingly ordinary. In fact, it is the ordinariness of the characters and setting that draw you in.

Jacky Cheung is an underachieving 41-year old who is still living with his mum (played by Pao Hee Ching, fresh off her Best Actress award) and aunt (played by veteran Chu Mimi). He dreams of his late father (played by the legendary composer, Lowell Lo) and hopes to be reunited with his childhood dreamgirl (Maggie Cheung Ho Yee).

Danny Lee plays an accountant. Let me say that again (and I still can't believe that I said it the first time) - DANNY LEE PLAYS AN ACCOUNTANT!!!!! Yes, THAT Danny Lee Sau Yin who played a billion toughguy cop roles is an accountant and a dog-lover and romances both Pao Hee Ching and Chu Mimi in this film! Better than that, he actually carried the role off so convincingly that you could never imagine that it's the same guy who was soaked in blood together with Chow Yun Fat in "The Killer"!!!

We also get cameos by veteran actors Kwok Fung and Lam Wai, and ex-couple Ekin Cheng and Maggie Siu. However, the show-stealer has to be Tang Wei. She made me cry like a baby in Ang Lee's "Lust-Caution" and got me to read Aileen Chang's original novelette (in Chinese) three times on the same day. Here, she made me fall in love with HK movies all over again. She's like Jaqueline Wu in "A Moment Of Romance" only far, far better! You want to laugh with her when she's laughing heartily at Jacky Cheung (I did not say "with" Jacky Cheung. I said "at" Jacky Cheung!) and you want to offer her a shoulder to cry on when she expresses her disappointment with her gangster-of-a-boyfriend (played by Andy On). She's headstrong one moment and childish the next. As a bonus, she's an avid reader of junk-detective-novels in traditional HK cafes. Imagine, if you will, a heartbreakingly beautiful girl who is at the same time blessed with "girl-next-door" vulnerability, sitting alone in a HK cafe reading a detective novel quietly while eating an egg-tart and enjoying a cup of milk-tea. For the life of me, there is nothing more poetic and beautiful than that. Monet should have been alive to paint her. But since Monet is long dead and gone, thank God for Ivy Ho and this beautiful piece of film called "Crossing Hennessy".